How long until the NFL plays on Saturdays?

[cedarstrip]

Back in the day it was:

Friday night-high school
Saturday-college
Sunday-NFL

College now plays almost everyday and it is quickly moving towards some sort of "G league". Why doesn't the NFL just start playing on Saturday?

 

[kingcy]

Congress won't let them due to their anti-trust agreement.

 

[Cyched]

NFL won’t go on Saturdays.

What I’m curious to see with more Thurs-Fri college games due to TV, how does that affect season ticket purchases if schools end up having multiple weekday home games?

 

[cedarstrip]

Congress won't let them due to their anti-trust agreement.

I would think a competing "pro" league would be in danger of losing this protection.

 

[Tailg8er]

NFL won’t go on Saturdays.

What I’m curious to see with more Thurs-Fri college games due to TV, how does that affect season ticket purchases if schools end up having multiple weekday home games?

I think we're a ways from any power 5 team having multiple home weeknight games. That's a LOT of teams, and there are usually only 1-2 games on any given weeknight. I'm not sure if even MAC teams are to the point of having multiple home weeknight games yet.

That said, if/when it does happen I think it absolutely negatively impacts season ticket sales (not that the people in charge of game times care about that).

 

[clonedude]

How about more college games being overseas? KSU fans are getting screwed out of a home game next year. I bet their season ticket price didn’t go down, right?

 

[AuH2O]

Some things that may be interesting to watch regarding the anti-trust exemption.
- If the UFL is viable, does the NFL willing to push its limits?
- I believe the anti-trust exemption competition vs CFB has a geographical component, where no NFL games can occur Fri or Sat within a certain distance of HS or CFB games. International games might be a workaround.

But the other factor is that there are still a lot of networks with both NFL and CFB. Those probably would push back. But some of the NFL only broadcasters or streamers might push for Sat NFL.

 

[jdoggivjc]

Going to be real interesting to see just how much Congress and the courts feel the need to protect college football going forward. This isn’t the 1980s when it was amateurs playing and only the best of them were paid under the table. The NCAA in the last couple of years has effectively become a pro developmental league with television contracts that rival pro leagues and ADs across the nation are figuring out how they’re going to pay all players above the table going forward. Does CFB in this environment REALLY need protection from the big bad NFL, especially after the Big 10 and SEC just got done crippling more than half of other college programs financially across the nation?

 

[KnappShack]

Going to be real interesting to see just how much Congress and the courts feel the need to protect college football going forward. This isn’t the 1980s when it was amateurs playing and only the best of them were paid under the table. The NCAA in the last couple of years has effectively become a pro developmental league with television contracts that rival pro leagues and ADs across the nation are figuring out how they’re going to pay all players above the table going forward. Does CFB in this environment REALLY need protection from the big bad NFL, especially after the Big 10 and SEC just got done crippling more than half of other college programs financially across the nation?

At this point I'm all for the NFL putting college football out of business

 

[JP4CY]

How about more college games being overseas? KSU fans are getting screwed out of a home game next year. I bet their season ticket price didn’t go down, right?

KState isn't getting screwed if they signed up for it and will get millions from it.

 

[cytor]

I heard the NFL is now doing games on Saturdays of Thanksgiving. This clashes with College football "Rivalry weekend."

It will not shock me if the NFL puts a game or 2 on every day of the week sometime in the future.

 

[GoHawks]

If they're going to put more games on Saturday hopefully they start with the Superbowl

 

[1UNI2ISU]

The NFL is playing a doubleheader on Christmas Day, which is a Wednesday this year. If they can figure out how to make scheduling work to play a game every Tuesday and Wednesday they will and the networks will be falling all over themselves to get the rights to show it.

 

[ISUTex]

Back in the day it was:

Friday night-high school
Saturday-college
Sunday-NFL

College now plays almost everyday and it is quickly moving towards some sort of "G league". Why doesn't the NFL just start playing on Saturday?

I would absolutely love it if the NFL played Saturday games. It's not like you can watch more than 4 games on Sunday anyway. Give me 4 more on Saturday!!! Get rid of Thursday night and give that to College.

 

[SolterraCyclone]

Some things that may be interesting to watch regarding the anti-trust exemption.
- If the UFL is viable, does the NFL willing to push its limits?
- I believe the anti-trust exemption competition vs CFB has a geographical component, where no NFL games can occur Fri or Sat within a certain distance of HS or CFB games. International games might be a workaround.

But the other factor is that there are still a lot of networks with both NFL and CFB. Those probably would push back. But some of the NFL only broadcasters or streamers might push for Sat NFL.

I do think the NFL is planting the seeds to challenge this. They played on Black Friday last year and fringe were in violation of that law, but no one cared.

I also maintain, certainly CBS, but even FOX would prioritize the NFL to CFB. The NFL dwarfs all other sports, CFB included.

I could only see the NFL playing maybe one or two games per week on Saturdays. That said, that could really hurt CFB media rights if the NFL takes an afternoon and prime time slot.

 

[Cyclonsin]

I would absolutely love it if the NFL played Saturday games. It's not like you can watch more than 4 games on Sunday anyway. Give me 4 more on Saturday!!! Get rid of Thursday night and give that to College.

I can't even begin to describe how much I despise your opinion.

 

[ISUTex]

If they're going to put more games on Saturday hopefully they start with the Superbowl

Or make Super Bowl Sunday a national holiday and give people Monday off.

 

[GoHawks]

Or make Super Bowl Sunday a national holiday and give people Monday off.

That would be even better

 

[jdoggivjc]

Or make Super Bowl Sunday a national holiday and give people Monday off.

Or do what people anticipate the NFL’s plans are and push it to Presidents’ Day weekend where most of us will have that Monday off anyway.

 

[jdoggivjc]

I do think the NFL is planting the seeds to challenge this. They played on Black Friday last year and fringe were in violation of that law, but no one cared.

I also maintain, certainly CBS, but even FOX would prioritize the NFL to CFB. The NFL dwarfs all other sports, CFB included.

I could only see the NFL playing maybe one or two games per week on Saturdays. That said, that could really hurt CFB media rights if the NFL takes an afternoon and prime time slot.

I can also see the unintended consequence of this having a minimal impact on the Big 10 and SEC, but it having an even more major impact on schools like ISU. If CBS and FOX only have 1 game they can easily schedule Big 10 games around it.